Those who work with Woo will attest to her rare ability to translate the raw, hard data of medical studies into actionable insights that address the pain points of patients in Malaysia, bridging the gap between quality healthcare and patients with the least access to it. This patient-centric approach is mirrored in Program Rose’s day-to-day operations and is the linchpin of its success, given its flexibility and adaptability to the community’s varying needs. 

“We recognise that women in Malaysia come from different communities, [and that] different parts of Malaysia present different challenges. Where we conduct their screenings and treatments is also important—some may prefer going to a clinic because it’s convenient, but for others, it’s a seven-hour car ride to the nearest hospital with specialists who can deal with their condition,” Woo says. “If you have a community where five women are in need of treatment or follow-up, we ask, is it better for one healthcare professional to go over to their community and treat them, or for us to haul five of them to a hospital far from their homes? All these logistics are being addressed, along with the cost and time implications for healthcare professionals too. These are the things that Rose Foundation continually looks at as we get to know different communities in Malaysia.”

The dedication of Woo and her team at Rose Foundation has garnered attention at local and international levels. In April, Woo became the first Southeast Asian to be awarded the 2023 Rachel Pearline Award, an annual honour which recognises an outstanding professional and their contribution to cancer research and practice in low- and middleincome countries. In the same year, Rose Foundation was honoured with the Univants of Healthcare Excellence award, a global prize celebrating teams that demonstrate healthcare excellence; it is the only Southeast Asian organisation to date to have earned this distinction.

This success wasn’t achieved overnight, but is the result of decades of hard work and dedication. Woo’s specialist training in the UK spanned 21 years, including three years at the University of Cambridge where she received her PhD in Human Papillomavirus Immune-biology. “The opportunity to train in an institution like Cambridge University and be surrounded by the most brilliant of minds was an experience. To be honest, quite often, when I spoke to some of them, or when I would sit in group discussions, I did not understand half of what they were alluding to. Being a clinician and then thrown into a pathology research environment wasn’t easy, but I survived.”

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It wasn’t only having less academic experience that Woo had to survive. “I resigned from my clinical work at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge in 2004 to pursue my PhD before funding was secured. That was rather brave—some say silly—of me, but I guess not having a salary after three months was a good enough incentive to try to get a fellowship or grant,” quips the mum of two, who gave birth to her eldest daughter in the same year that she completed her PhD. “Both my PhD supervisors, Professor Margaret Stanley and Robin Crawford, went all out to ensure that I had funding and was well supported to undertake three years of postdoctoral training. I have been extremely fortunate in many ways to have good role models throughout my training.

Woo is a firm believer in fostering global collaboration to address health challenges at home, and despite her time spent overseas, her heart has always been in Malaysia. Her focus ranges from improving the ability of its healthcare system to serve women’s needs to highlighting the country’s unique challenges in cancer patient management and empowering the next generation of doctors. 

“We’ve now come to the realisation that we need to solve our own problems,” she says. “We cannot take a solution from a high-income country where so much economic and human resources are available, and plonk it into this part of the world. Personally, I feel that lowand middle-income countries have different roles to play when it comes to research and improving healthcare. My personal belief is that we should not aim to replicate the models of high-income countries.” Woo, who is also the country head and lead clinician for the World Ovarian Cancer Coalition’s Every Woman Study: Low- and Middle-Income Edition in Malaysia—a study which yields valuable insights on the needs of ovarian cancer patients in a local context—adds: “Malaysia is unique in that we have the opportunity to collaborate with global experts to tackle local and regional issues. We have lots of Malaysian talent and we come from diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, so our solutions have to take into account those differences.”

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Reflecting on other impactful collaborations she’s had over the years, Woo emphasises the value of being open to new experiences and avoiding procrastination. “Whether at home or school, being on time was something that I was reminded of quite often,” she says. “I guess this has also influenced how I approach and respond to different opportunities. I still teach my trainees that timely response often opens more doors, brings more opportunities and also conveys to others that you will do something.”

Perhaps ultimately, Woo’s success comes down to the fact that what others see as insurmountable challenges, she views as opportunities—from rising healthcare costs to figuring out how to raise awareness of the importance of early cancer detection. “Growing up, my mum would tell us that saying ‘I don’t know how to do something’ is often an excuse or an easy way out of not wanting to do something. I learnt to try hard or make an attempt before saying no. Underlying my drive to do better is the hope that my work will somehow make a difference to others in one way or another.”

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